before the deadline, president obama meets with congressional leaders today in hopes of reaching a compromise. >>> and less dairy for your dollar. without action by congress by new year's day, milk prices could skyrocket. >> if we want to continue to eat, the bill needs to be passed. that's where we get our food, people. captioning funded by cbs >>> this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, december 28th, 2012. good morning. good to be with you. i'm duarte geraldino. this afternoon president obama will meet with congressional leader to try to come to a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. they've been called into a sunday evening session just in case some deal can be reached. boehner is expected to attend the white house meeting but he's made it very clear. the next move is up to the senate. tara mergener has more. >> good morning, duarte. both sides say they are eager to talk and ready to strike a deal. the fiscal cliff is still a few days away, but business owner don carlino says he's already feeling the impact. >> a lot of our customers are holding back, they're apprehensi

is just four days away. president obama is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders at the white house this afternoon. senate majority leader harry reid says the likelihood of reaching a deal is a long shot. but senator charles schumer told the "today" show that the odds are better than people think. if a deal were to pass, senate house speaker john boehner would have to agree to take it to the floor of the republican controlled house. danielle nottingham has more. >> reporter: president obama is meeting today at the white house with top congressional democrats harry reid and nancy pelosi and leading republicans mitch mcconnell and john boehner. it's the president's first meeting with congressional leaders since november 16th. the closed door discussions are an attempt to reach a last- minute agreement to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax increases due to kick in on january 1st. >> probably the worst case scenario will come out of this maybe today and -- meeting today and that is we will kick the can down the road. >> reporter: senator bob corker told "cbs this morning" he pr

meeting between obama and congressional leaders, if it was a political stunt or real negotiation. here is how you voted 96% said a political stn

afternoon white house meeting president obama pitch a debt plan he had outlined a week ago, prevent a tax increase for income of less than to an effective thousand dollars per year and extend long-term unemployment benefits. senate leaders are using that framework to try to craft a proposal to pass both houses of congress. aides say it would likely increase the threshold for tax increases, reversing massive pay cut from medicare doctors, and elections of millions of americans to avoid paying the alternative minimum tax. an increase in the debt ceiling is not part of the discussion. that is significant development for house republicans who won any increase in the borrowing limit it accompanied by an equal amount in spending cuts taking the debt ceiling of the table making it much easier for the scaled-down version to be negotiated. from here senate leaders will try to secure an agreement by sunday morning. if so, democrats and republicans will try to sell its house and senate members. if they can do that the voting begins. there is some progress report this evening, though there are no gua

," david gregory sitting down with president obama. check local listings for "meet the press" tomorrow morning. >>> turn to weather now. another winter storm. marching north, promising snow. right now, crews and homeowners getting ready in pennsylvania. in massachusetts, coastal residents trying to secure their homes after the last storm, washed way some 20 feet of sand. people are hoping for cooler temperatures and fresh snow in some ski resorts. looking at this in rhode island. meteorologist dylan dreyer with the forecast. >> thanks, c.j. good morning. we're talking about more snow in the northeast. this time around, more of a new england snowstorm, especially southeastern new england. right now, the storm generating some snow. at this time moving through ohio and western pennsylvania and western new york state. rain through the carolinas and virginia. most of washington, d.c. area. you can see the winter storm warnings and advisories all throughout the northeast, throughout the day. this whole storm system is going to track just to the southeast of martha's vineyard and nantucket in

participating on a percentage basis in the labor force. if we had participation a level from mr. obama took office, unemployment rate north of 10%. gerri: you had low expectations for any kind of deal getting done. it would be small. they're not even meeting that. you think we will get anything before january 1? >> identifies the house has been brought back increases the likelihood we will. the real question here is to republicans playing a little bit? do they accept tax increases something over and comes a $5000. does the president given a little bit? you're asking me what a very rigid man and a very rigid group of guys over at the house be willing to behave like adults and compromise? so far we haven't seen any vacation adult behavior from either group. gerri: what you said about how you took some sort of confidence the house was coming back also encourage the stock market today. maybe they might get something. appreciate your time, have a great new years. gerri: take care. >> thank you. gerri: when we come back, how does he jump the fiscal cliff talks? and some new years resolutions on c

hill, president obama monitor talks from the white house and has indicated he would support legislation that would raise taxes on those who earn more than $400,000. harry reid has scheduled a democratic caucus meeting for tomorrow afternoon to discuss any potential deals. minority leader mitch mcconnell says he would do the same period in the house, speaker john boehner has said the senate must act first on legislation to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. >> tomorrow on washington journal, the latest on the so- called fiscal cliff. with local columnist -- with roll call columnist. followed by a look at president obama's cabinet for a second term. our guest is david jackson. then a look at what is next. we are joined by michael gordon. washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> tomorrow on newsmaker, indiana rep elect luke messer. he will talk about the 130 congress and his priorities at the incoming republican freshmen class president. join us sunday at 10:00 eastern and then later at 6:00 eastern here on c-span. >> as president obama begins his second term, what

obama will be david gregory's guest on "meet the press." that's this sunday on "meet the press." but coming up next, whatever became of john boehner. remember him? not too long ago, he was the leader of an increasingly powerful republican party in the house. now, he can't even get his own caucus to approve his celebrated plan b. >> and later, through the magic of digital recording, talking about even the most common sense proposals to limit the ability of assault weapons. and with his annual list of best political movies of the year. this is "hardball," the place for politics. bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. like say, gas station sushi. cheap is good. and sushi, good. but cheap sushi, not so good. it's like that super-low rate on not enough car insurance. pretty sketchy. ♪ and then there are the good decisions. like esurance. their coverage counselor tool helps you choose the right coverage for you at a great price. [ stomach g

: earlier tonight on gerriwillis.com, we asked you if the white house fiscal cliff meeting between obama and congressional leaders, if it was a political stunt or real negotiation. here is how you voted 96% said a political stunt.

get a deal here. president obama says $250,000 -- maybe i think $350,000 is the line, maybe someone else $150,000 -- we can meet somewhere and cut down -- cut the road somewhere in the middle. and save this country from the uncertainty, the uncertainty that plagues us right now. in the olden days, a long time ago, i was a stockbroker. i was an economics major and a stockbroker on wall street. the thing wall street and investors cannot take is uncertainty. if they no taxes are going up, they will be figure things. if they no taxes are going down, they will figure things. if they now taxes are staying the same, they will figure it out. right now it they are frozen -- they do not know. families are also in many ways frozen. they do not know whether they have to budget so that they will have $2,000 less next year. they do not know whether it will be $4,000. they do not now. the uncertainty is the fault of leaders who cannot get together. i think it is critical that we get a deal. i hope in the next couple of hours. to me -- somebody asked me, what is the difference if you get it now or

. meeting he was just going to leave our interview to go into and potentially more news before we get off the air if we hear back from him. we'll check in. meanwhile, president obama making new remarks about the terror attack in benghazi, libya, saying we have some quote, good leads on who was behind the attack that killed four americans, including our ambassador to libya. this, as we're learning al-qaeda in yemen is offering a bounty for the murder of another one of our ambassadors. stay with us. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day afr day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] e pill eachmorning. 24 hours. zero heartbur if we took the already great sentra

meeting according to a senior administration official president obama began by offering essentially what he laid out in a speech a week ago which is to keep taxes where they are for families earning less than $250,000 a year and to extend long-term unemployment insurance benefits that is basically just a small slice of what the president had been proposing for quite some time. the administration official also says that the president is putting it on republicans to come up with a counteroffer that they say can pass the house and the senate. if not, the president said, he wants an up-or-down vote on his proposal in the house or the senate. so congressional leaders left here. other than house minority leader nancy pelosi i'm now hearing senate majority leader harry reid has joined her in making comments back at capitol hill. we'll let you know what they say as soon as that is transmitted to us. there are other directed comments they made little progress something they have been saying after the meetings the last few months. adam? >> we're looking to turn around reid's comments so we all can

has been a wild day in those negotiations over the fiscal cliff. president obama's meeting with congressional leaders ended about an hour ago. the president will make a statement on the fiscal cliff at 5:45 eastern time. we'll take that same live at fbn we have a picture of the white house for you and we will keep you posted when the president comes to the camera. >>> the oil boom doing more than increasing chances we'll become energy independent. it is also bringing about booming investment in the transportation industry. a new report says estimated $45 billion, you heard me correctly, $45 billion bucks will be spent new, expanded pipelines, railcars, rail terminals and that is just next year. how do you get in on this, right? it is a windfall. but is it realistic? we'll turn to andy lipow. andy i would have assumed it was shipped by pipeline. what is it about railcar? it seems awfully 19th century to ship oil that way. >> it is new development in the oil patch but if you look at oil production in north dakota, we simply don't have pipeline to move that oil east and west coast

other. president obama was a guest on "meet the press." let's listen. >> 75% of the congressmen come from gerrymandered districts in which they are bullet proof. they don't go home and have to prove their case because they have a choir back home. >> i think it has been very hard for speaker boehner and republican leading mcconnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest americans should go up a little bit as part of an overall deficit reduction package. >> in a statement house speaker john boehner shot back writing americans electedt president obama to lead, not to cast blame. the president's comments today are ironic as a current theme of negotiations is an unwillingness to agree to anything that would required him to stand up to his own party. does it look like the president and speaker are closer to mending fences? >> it doesn't. the president i think was seen by both parties in some respects as a bit of a pushover during the debate about the debt ceiling and frankly going back two years exactly now around extending the bush tax cuts. i think he is showing he is not. he li

, we'll be better and healthier. we just got news that president obama was going to meet or a phone call meet with some business leaders. >> right. the white house calling c.e.o.s, a regularly scheduled meeting. presumably it's a regular scheduled meeting not to say we're going over the fiscal cliff. >> the president won't be doing this but the white house will be. >> that's right. it will be interesting to see if we get response out of this. people in the meeting with the president could come to the microphones. so could c.e.o.s. >> we wanted to let you viewers know we're going to monitor the white house. we have two cameras focused on the white house waiting for the leaders to leave and specifically see if they approach a microphone and camera and let us know what's going on. we'll take that if we get that. thank you, gerri willis. >> you know how he protected other nation's border but wait until you hear how sheriff aarpaio wants to protect our schools. he's here next. blah >>> you're looking live at the white house just outside the white house, senator john kerry, for some reaso

. >> president obama will meet with congressional leaders later today at the white house. but it may be too late for a deal. justice for our days left before the fiscal cliff deadline. >> i have to be honest, mr. president,. i don't know, why is, how it can happen. >> senate majority leader harry reid last out at house speaker john boehner accusing him of running a dictatorship. >> she seemed to care more about keeping his pspeakership than keeping the nation on sound financial footing. republicans are. blaming are >> republicans are not about to write a blank check for anything senate democrats before just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. that would not be fair to the american people. >> president obama will home early from his hawaii in vacation yesterday. speaker boehner called the house back into town for an unusual sunday session. but members of congress understand the 11th-hour actions may not be enough to appease the public. >> the american people have a right to be very upset with this congress. >> the fiscal cliff will bring massive tax increases and deep spending cut

president met with leaders and said he was modestly optimistic about a deal on taxes. meeting this the red room, president obama held firm for tax cuts for families making up to $250,000 per year, and joining me on the north lawn of the white house is kristen welker. kristen, let's listen to what the president said about and up or down vote or what he expects from the senate. >> i had a good and constructive discussion here with the leadership about this tax hike on the middle-class. i am optimistic that we can reach an agreement that will be passed in both houses. if an agreement is not reached in time between senator reid and senator mcconnell, then i will urge senator reid to bring to the floor and up or down vote for the floor, and i believe a p proposal could pass both houses with majorities as long as the leaders allow it to actually come to a vote. if members of the house or the senate want to vote no, they can. but we should let everybody vote. >> kristen, this up or down vote seems to be be the big news of the day, and isn't this what the white house wanted all along? >> w

are about a half hour away now with the meeting between president obama and top leaders of both parties. joining the president and vice president, boehner, pelosi, reid and mcconnell. their goal, agree on something before the country falls off the so-called fiscal cliff in four days. kelly o'donnell joining me live now and i understand we have information on the smaller offer that you reported that the president is making this information. >> reporter: good afternoon, craig. so they're going to meet, they need something to talk about the president is prepared to put on the table what aides describe as a smaller offer. you know, they had hoped to go for something much grander but with the 11th hour deadline, they want to do something to follow the lines of what the president said in the briefing room before going to hawaii for the holidays. basically resetting the discussion for income rates at the threshold he originally wanted, $250,000 for couples. why that's important is because in previous conversations with speaker boehner, the president had moved off that number to somethi

republicans. president obama said after the meeting he is modestly optimistic a deal can be reached. and an extension of long-term unemployment benefits. and that's of course for the long-term unemployed as well as what's known as a dock fix which has to do with medicare payments to doctors. that's where we are. we don't expect anything big in the next 24 hours, but this is after all washington. right now, it's time for piers morgan tonight. >> tonight, tyler perry is a successful writer, director, actor. >> she told me you're the best interviewer in the world, so i'm worried. >> his movies have grossed over $600 million. >> it means i get to reinvest in what i do and i'm able to hire a lot more people. >> and he knows how to wear a dress. have you ever thought you were going to be world famous for cross dressing. >> never in a million years. even the first time i did it, i didn't think it would last as long as it did. >> the greatest gift in my life is what my audience has given me. >> and she's a fine girl. brandy back to the spotlight and speaking from the heart about her mentor,

years. >> thank you, joy read, thank you clarence page. on sunday on "meet the press" david will interview president obama. >>> up next, whatever became of john boehner? now he can't get his own house to approve his plan b and mostly on the sidelines, a mutual observer watching the fiscal cliff negotiations with the rest of us. this is "hardball." [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicoderm cq, the patch with time release smart control technology that acts fast and helps control cravings all day long. ♪ quit one day at a time with nicoderm cq. ahh, cloudy glasses. you didn't have to come over! easy. hi. cascade kitchen counselor. look! over time, cascade complete pacs fight film buildup two times better than finish quantum to help leave glasses sparkling. cascade. the clear choice. [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling b

the market, that basically cued off a white house meeting that president obama has with big congressional leaders. they came out and talked a lot about optimism. from that moment on, the dow went up 800, 850 points. a slow, steady climb until early last week when speaker boehner backed utah of the bipartisan talks, goes to plan b and it blows up. now you can see, we're down about 350, 360 points since plan b got introduced. the markets are now starting to believe that we might not get a deal at all, at least into next year. >> chris, what is all this nonsense surrounding a proposal of the white house allegedly sent to senate republicans and now they're denying. do you think anything about that? and are we slated to be in on new year's eve? >> i have talked to some senate dems right before i came down and they told me that they had not been told about the white house at all about any plan coming up and it looks like the sources there on that report may have been a little bit confused. about but i think what we're watching, luke, is a slow motion car wreck. i think we're going

yesterday on nbc's meet the press, president obama said gop leaders have rejected his proposal to make a comprehensive deal. >> we don't yet see an agreement and now, the pressure is on congress to produce. >> we are willing to work with whoever can help. there is no single issue that remains an impossible sticking point. >> today, senate majority leader harry reid could push for a fallback bill which roe woo raise taxes on families making $250,000 a year or more. that plan would also extend unemployment benefits for two million americans. >>> in our other top story, police continue to search for answers in the murder of a college student. xavier strangefellow was a sophomore in virginia. a vigil was held last night at battlefield high school in haymarket. stringfellow was a graduate of the school. he was found stabbed to death. his body was found inside a crashed minivan. police say he had been involved in an altercation. there has been an arrest made in this case. 22-year-old johnny bonilla is charged with murder. >>> a very happy new year for comex couples in maryland. this com

president obama, lawmakers meet 3 p.m. on the fiscal cliff at the white house today. markets are going to be watching that real close, but of course, the markets close about an hour after the meeting starts. so, that meeting probably won't have much impact on the markets themselves unless there are leaks about what might happen. until then, any developments out of d.c. i'v i have are going to drive this market. we're calling it sound bite trading. we're covering it. the opening bell is next. want to know what i did in the last five hours? i played a round of golf. then i read a book while teaching myself how to play guitar; ran ten miles while knitting myself a sweater; jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while recording my debut album. how you ask? with 5-hour ergy. i get hours of energy now -- no crash later. wait to sethe next five hours. >>> just a few seconds from the opening bell, there are no government reports in the news background today. all we've got is a 3 p.m. meeting at the white house between the top two democrats and the top two republicans and the

need a dance partner." >> reporter: on n-b-c's meet the press, president obama made a final pitch for his plan to preserve bush era tax cuts for everyone but the wealthiest americans. >>> "regardless of partisan differences, our top priority has to be to make sure that taxes on middle class families do not go up that would hurt our economy badly." >> reporter: a major sticking point continues to be the annual income level at which those tax increases should kick in. the threshold has wavered from 250-thousand dollars to as high as one-million dollars. republicans argue the country doesn't have a tax revenue problem, it has a spending problem. "unless we do something about spending, the government will continue to get bigger and the deficit will continue to get bigger." >> reporter: following the president's interview, speaker of the house john boehner issued a statement saying in part: "republicans made every effort to reach the 'balanced' deficit agreement that the president promised the american people.we've been reasonable and responsible. the president is the one who has never

they are out wherever they r and we are here trying to get something done. >> president obama called leaders last night and tomorrow afternoon we will meet with the speaker and mix mcconnel and harry reid to see if they can avoid going off the fiscal curb on january 1st. today harry reid emphasized that there is ome one reason why they are unable to reach an agreement so far. >> this has been going on for years. they cannot cross over the threshold. people are not propose iing mak the taxes like them. john boehner could not even pass the tax proposal he passed over there. he said no, can't do that. didn't he bring it up for a vote? >> tonight, speaker boehner's office put out this statement. >> joining me now are our guests. clearly the positioning game continues. harry reid saying we did our job months ago. do you think we til would be@posturing stage at the end of that white house meeting tomorrow? >> in your introduction you made the fundamental point here which is that this agreement before the end of the year, simply cannot go forward unless john by nor is willing to let

make a decision. >> president obama issued a statement on the status of the fiscal cliff negotiations. he called a meeting good and constructive and said that harry reid and mitch mcconnell will try to work out a bipartisan bill this weekend. if no agreement can be reached, like harryt obama would reid to present a bill. the president spoke from the white house briefing room. >> good afternoon, everybody. for the past couple of months, i have been working with leaders of both parties to try to forge an agreement that would grow our economy and shrink the deficit, a balanced plan that would cut spending in a responsible way but also ask wealthy americans to pay more and protect our middle-class and everyone striving to get into the middle class. i want to get this done. it is the right thing to do for our families, businesses, and our economy, but the hour for immediate action is here. it is now. we are at the point where in four days every american's tax rates are scheduled to go up by law. every americans' paychecks will get considerably smaller. that would be the wrong

news that president obama did not come up with a new plan when meeting with congress just now, not good news for the markets, and we closed at session lows for the s&p 500 futures, probably indicating there's selling when trading reopens tonight and tomorrow morning as well. david: fasten the seat belts, a bumpy weekend and monday morning of trading, well below the 1400. shibani: dropping a percent. watching shares of rukus wireless with new highs, possivities with one stock. >> focus on that. it's been a rough week, month, and certainly day. here's the shares now, and there's the cymbal. they closed up 2.5%, but they hit an all-time high, only ipo last month, but they were down a lot since the ipo. the all-time high was 23.28, a rise of 5% basis. interesting to talk about a stock doing well oo a day when most everything is down. hard pressed to find an up arrow, but this is the fox business booth. welcome. we have our guard dog which is the rukus dog, gaae that out to the ipo down here. if you want to see, here's the hair spray and my pick, our booth for me and producer liz all day. sh

middle-class to be protected, we can get a deal here. president obama says $250,000 -- maybe i think $350,000 is the line, maybe someone else $150,000 -- we can meet somewhere and cut down -- cut the road somewhere in the middle. and save this country from the uncertainty, the uncertainty that plagues us right now. in the olden days, a long time ago, i was a stockbroker. i was an economics major and a stockbroker on wall street. the thing wall street and investors cannot take is uncertainty. if they no taxes are going up, they will be figure things. if they no taxes are going down, they will figure things. if they now taxes are staying the same, they will figure it out. right now it they are frozen -- they do not know. families are also in many ways frozen. they do not know whether they have to budget so that they will have $2,000 less next year. they do not know whether it will be $4,000. they do not now. the uncertainty is the fault of leaders who cannot get together. i think it is critical that we get a deal. i hope in the next couple of hours. to me -- somebody asked me, what is

president obama on "meet the press." our special coverage will continue after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help cover some of the expenses medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to find out more, request your free decision guide. call or go online today. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. >>> with the clock winding down to the fiscal cliff, no one is even talking about a grand bargain anymore. what's being hoped for now is a narrow, last-minute deal aimed at

deadline. today president obama called on lawmakers to meet their deadlines and responsibilities and forge a compromise to avoid tax hike and spending cuts from taking effect. lisa desjardins is live on capitol hill. what's going on right now? >> reporter: right now it's all behind closed doors, martin. what we just have learned in the last hour, in fact, what reporters have seen here, a surprise. house speaker john boehner was here at the capitol. we're still trying to sort out exactly why he was here, but he wasn't here for very long, it seems. he left in the last hour. also, we were able to see some of senator mcconnell's staffers. i was able to speak to one of them coming in and out of these kind of closed-door planning meetings. he said they've been here since 9:00 a.m. they plan to work all day and we may see his boss, senator mcconnell, later today. that shows us kind of where things stand. i wanted to break this down simply because there's so much that complicates the story. let's look really quickly at a graphic of the basics, what's happening right now. here's where we stan

get any kind of agreement to avoid that fiscal cliff. >> reporter: president obama is meeting today at the white house with top congressional democrats harry reid and nancy pelosi and leading republicans mitch mcconnell and john boehner. it's the president's first meeting with congressional leaders since november 16th. the closed door discussions are an attempt to reach a last minute agreement to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax increases due to kick in january 1st. >> probably the worst case scenario will come out of this meeting today and that is we will kick the can down the road. >> reporter: senator bob courter told cbs this morning he predicts the meeting will bring only a temporary solution. >> this afternoon's meeting feels much to me like optics to make it look like we're doing something. let me just say one more time this is a total dereliction of duty at every level. >> reporter: going over the cliff would affect 88% of u.s. taxpayers whose taxes would go up on average $3,500 a year. many americans are frustrated the showdown has gone down to the last minute. >> they

obama doing an interview for "meet the press." the senate is scheduled to reconvene at 11:00 this morning. any deal today would have to be rushed through both chambers of congress before midnight. as talks in the senate stalled yesterday, minority leader mitch mcconnell reached out to someone he believed he could help jump start the negotiations and perhaps deliver an 11th hour compromise, and that would be vice president joe biden. mcconnell and biden reportedly spoke several times by phone throughout the night after talks with harry reid came to a halt. >> there's no single issue that remains an impossible sticking point. the sticking point appears to be a willingness, an interest, or frankly the courage to close the deal. i want everyone to know i'm willing to get this done. but i need a dance partner. >> before i continue to set the scene, anyone here think biden can make a difference? dan? >> not before the end of the day. i just think that even if the senate -- even if they work out a deal that's acceptable to the senate, then it's going to go to the house. speaker boehner h

against russian s who violate human rights. >>> president obama will immediate -- meet with leaders from capitol hill hoping to avoid the fiscal cliff. spending cuts and tax hikes will go into effect unless lawmakers can broker a deal. >> reporter:cx$z president obama will4zkn:eÑ with congressional leaders later today at the white house. it may be too late for a deal. there are just four days left before the fiscal cliff deadline. >> i have to be honest mr. president, i don't know timewise how it can happen now.((?u >> reporter: harry reid lashed out at house speaker bane area out at house speaker bane area caution him ofrm" dictatorship. >> boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on firm financial footing. >> reporter: republicans blame democrats. >> republicans aren't about to write a blank cheque or anything senate democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. that wouldn't be fair to the american people. >> reporter: president obama flew home early from his speaker boehner call the house back into town for an

at the white house. update us on the next move from the obama administration. >> despite the phone calls that the president made before he left hawaii, he spoke to top democrats and republicans and no negotiation meetings have been set. at least not formally or public limit there's nothing set yet between all the sides to discuss this. the president's back in washington after he cut short vacation to get back to the white house for possible last minute fiscal cliff talks leaving his wife and daughters in hawaii. the vice president is scheduled to be here today for meetings. don't forget the obama administration and congress have the debt ceiling hanging over them. the u.s. set to hit the borrowing limit of over $16 trillion by the end of the year. there's a lot going on at 2012 winds down. in congress, the senate is in session, the house is not. it's the first time either chamber has been in session for business between christmas and new year's since 1970. >> trace: so they're coming back to work. the president probably wished he stayed in hawaii because not much has changed. >> bo

truth! >>> as we get close to the top of the hour, president obama is vowing to crack down on gun violence in america. on "meet the press," the president said he needs public support for gun legislation and revealed something personal we have not heard before. >> the question then becomes, whether we are actually shook up enough by what happened here that it does not just become another one of these routine episodes where it gets a lot of attention for a couple weeks and drifts away. it certainly won't feel like that to me. this is something that, you know, that was the worst day of my presidency. it's not something that i want to see repeated. >> it hit close to home? >> absolutely. >> meanwhile, sales of firearms are dramatically increasing across the country since the shooting. organizers of this gun show over the weekend in virginia expected to draw twice as many people as a similar event. some gun dealers at the show were doing more business than they had ever done before. joining me new is the writer of that report. thank you for being here. you went to the gun show. give th

obama will be david gregory's guest on "meet the press." that's this sunday on "meet the press." but coming up next, whatever became of john boehner. remember him? not too long ago, he was the leader of an increasingly powerful republican party in the house. now, he can't even get his own caucus to approve his celebrated plan b. >> and later, through the magic of digital recording, talking about ef efb the most common sense proposals to limit the ability of assault weapons. and with his annual list of best political movies of the year. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant pretty sweet, huh? cute. but don't you have any apps on your phone that can make your life easier? who do you think i am, quicken loans? at quicken loans, we'll provide you with myql mobile. this amazingly useful app allows you to take pictures of your mortgage documents using an iphone or android smart phone... so you can easily send them t

, but at least something. >> president obama was on meet the press this morning, taking his argument to the american public. how effective is this, and one could say shouldn't he be talking to lawmakers directly? >> he did talk to lawmakers before. right now his representative, joe biden, was in the senate for a very long time, is trying to forge a deal with mitch mcconnell. they've had a successful partnership in the past, and harry reid, the majority leader, seems to go along with that. so maybe the outlines of a deal can be between those two principals. then again, we have john boehner, speaker of the house, has to control his own republican party. what happens if mcconnell and biden create a minimal deal and boehner can't sell it, then we're back to square one, which is failure. >> right. which boehner couldn't do with his plan b a couple of days ago. >> that's right. >> the question is, if some deal should be reached, i'm not expecting something that's overreaching, something large, is it short-term? >> very short-term. and then i'm sorry to be the dispenser of bad news, we have th

afternoon, president obama will meet with congressional leaders in the latest effort to find a way out of a budget impasse. but as cbs reporter tara mergener tells us, it's not even clear if there's enough time to get a bill through congress before january 1. >>> reporter: the "fiscal cliff" is still a few days away. but business owners don carlino says he is already feeling the impact. >> a lot of our customers are holding back. they are apprehensive. they are not committing to projects. they're not --you know, they are waiting to see what's going to happen with the "fiscal cliff." >> reporter: and hope is fading that congress can get a deal done before tax hikes and spending cuts kick in january 1. >> i am not optimistic. >> reporter: even congressional leaders are skeptical. >> the american people have a right to be very upset with this congress. >> reporter: president obama has invited nancy pelosi, john boehner, mitch mcconnell and harry reid to the white house this afternoon for a "fiscal cliff" summit. >> here we are five days from the new year, and we might finally start talking.

couple days before new year's wondering what policy makers will do at the white house meeting today. host: scott is from colorado springs on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. a couple things. i get tired of hearing obama was campaigning about we need to get a hold on spending. yet he comes back around with a $1.2 trillion budget. the other thing is harry reid has not voted on over 40 bills the republicans and put up there. he blames the republicans. i stopped you were supposed to bring bills up there and talk about them and vote on them. they have not passed a budget in over four years. why are they not being held responsible for that? guest: i think that's the beauty of being senate majority leader is you get to decide what comes to the floor and what does not. that's what makes him such a powerful figure. it's a complaint with your often from republican leaders in the house is the senate legislation that would help the deficit, in their view, would create more jobs, and the democrats incentive not acted. the democrats in the senate say they are partisan bill

mitch mcconnell on the republican side and harry reid on the democratic side to meet with respective senators at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon and should hear whether they feel like they have a deal or are still is struggling and perhaps have to go to president obama's plan c. shannon? >> shannon: we'll stand by. we know you are on it. mike emanuel on capitol hill. thanks. you are now looking live at the senate floor where a session is underway. the opening prayer there now being carried out asking for are wisdom and guidance for senators as they have a lot of work potentially ahead. shortly we should have is opening remarks from the majority leader, of course, senator are harry reid and then mitch mcconnell also expected. maybe first clues as to whether or not they hammered anything out. they complete the pledge now and then it is back to business. we'll keep you updated with any development there's. we have been asking you today to give us your input on a fiscal cliff. there are some lawmakers who say going over the cliff may actually be a food thing. do you agree or disagree? alex says